Beautiful Longwood Christmas

A couple of weekends ago, Kepi and I drove to Pennsylvania to visit Longwood Gardens. Every season, they decorate the gardens with different themes, but I'm most particularly in-loved with their Christmas set up. This year is spectacular. If you don't like Christmas or Christmas trees, be forewarned that this post is filled with Christmas tree photos and I don't how how many times I'd say Christmas.

A Christmas tree in one of the tree houses.

This Christmas tree is in the confectionery exhibit. I never through I'd love the bluish glow from this tree.

Another Christmas tree surrounded with white and red Poinsettias.

Christmas ornaments

The cutest photo bomber ever in her puffy red dress.

The main Christmas exhibit is the icing of the cake.

Of course, we took a photo with one of the taller Christmas trees.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!

Prelude To Christmas 2019

Slowly, Washington, DC is beginning to look like Christmas.

It's also that time when the weather is at a strange phase. You have to gauge the temperature if you need a thick coat or a regular coat for the day. Or, you'll end up sweating in a thick coat or shivering in a regular coat. Go figure! I've learned a long time ago to dress in layers and just take off the layers to adjust to the fluctuating DC temps. Funny thing about layers? You'll end up coming home with a bunch of clothes when it gets too warm. You can't win in this situation.

Anyway, below are a few photos I've taken during my morning and lunch walks. I've been trying to get my 10,000 steps each day, so I spend at least 30 minutes of my lunch hour walking/exploring. Twelve years of working in this city and I've barely scratched the surface. I'd like to think that there's more to DC than politics and lobbyists. I really hope I'm right.

A few steps from my office is the DC Center's gigantic Christmas Tree. I pass through here every morning from the train station to my office.

City Center is known for its 35 world class shops. I just stroll and window shop here. It's pretty with their Christmas decorations. In front of Louis Vuitton is the other expensive bag - Hermes. There are special police guards patrolling the area throughout the day (see the person in blue vest staring at me as I was taking this photo).

Two giant Nutcrackers guarding the entrance to Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington's oldest saloon.

I took this photo at the Christmas Market near Chinatown.

We've decorated the house. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm having a Christmas lunch with a few of my high school classmates this Saturday, so it's just timely to get the house ready for guests and the holidays.

The fireplace is ready for Christmas. I can't wait to get the fire going ,warm up with a cup of tea, and cuddle with a good book. Too bad I haven't been reading a lot this year, so I am looking forward to my Christmas break.

It melts my heart when I see this sight in the mornings. Daisy snuggled beside the Christmas Tree.

Taken on the evening we decorated the tree. Daisy and I just sat down on the floor and stared at the tree because we're both crazy for Christmas Trees.

Daisy is getting old; she's now 18. Her vet says that she's doing well for her age, but she's been sick a lot. This week, she's suffering from another ear infection. She's also been sleeping a lot, and I really miss the days when she had more energy. However, I do understand that dogs have a short lifespan, and Daisy has brought so much happiness to me and my family. She's given us her love unconditionally. Now that she's old, she needs all the love and care she deserves. I got your back buddy.

How about you? Are you ready for Christmas yet? I'd like to think I am but deep within I'm not.

Where Are You Christmas?

Where are you Christmas?

It seems a long time ago that I'd feel complete exuberance as soon as September first arrives. The -ber months would usher that Christmas feeling and warmth. If I'm not mistaken, I lost that feeling about six years ago. To those who are not familiar with my story, I was very sick for a long time and started my bone-marrow transplant journey during the holidays of 2013. Imagine getting an infusion on New Year's Day. My transplant was followed by years of being sick and recovery, then my husband's ordeal with three brain tumor related surgeries. Ever since, I am struggling to find that Christmas feeling, and I do miss it.

Just a few samples of the Christmas cards I have at the moment.

One project I do annually to get into the holiday spirit is send Christmas cards to family and friends. It's my way of spreading Christmas cheer. Although the Christmas cheer is elusive to me at the moment, I do hope that these cards may bring smile and happiness to all recipients.

I really love these Christmas Tree cards.

I've also started playing Christmas carols at home and at work. My coworkers tease me that it's too early to be playing these songs, but I just laugh them off. Nothing beats listening to those familiar Christmas carols I grew up with.

Here's Dizzy keeping me company while I sort and write Christmas cards.

In addition, I'm already planning how to decorate the house, and I have started my Christmas gift list. My gift list has little shopping involved as I mostly bake cookies, pastries and breads for family and friends. Baking makes the house smell heavenly, so that's a perk too.

How do you get into the Christmas spirit?

Happy Holidays!

It's that time of year when getting out of bed in the morning is pure struggle accompanied by the ugly protesting groans of not wanting to get up. The warm blanket has a stronger appeal than showing up at work. For two weeks now, my new winter morning ritual have been comprised of hitting the snooze button up to three times, followed by a discombobulated run to shower and hastily put on whatever I could grab from the closet (which resulted to mismatch socks and mistakenly wearing my old, shapeless/stretched out sweatshirt to work). I actually wore that sweatshirt while having chemo four years ago. Thus, showing up late to the office has been my norm this time of year. Heck, I was even late to our company Christmas party. So thank goodness I'm officially on holiday today!

Merry Christmas

and a wonderful 2018 to all!

And Then I Don't Feel So Sad

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad 

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

I hate Sunday evenings! Every Sunday evening, I get the case of Monday Blues, and it's quite unpleasant. I was just telling Kepi how I wish we could do over Thanksgiving and have another four-day weekend. Alas, I can't stop the hours from ticking. It's also not helping that one of my colleagues will be on vacation this week and I am taking over her responsibilities in addition to mine. I guess I simply have to remember my favorite things to fight off the stress and these Monday Blues.

Our Thanksgiving went great. Kepi and I made reservations for a Thanksgiving lunch buffet at Pienza. I think this is our third time going there for Thanksgiving and there may not be a fourth one as we felt the menu this year was limited.

 Great offering of pastries and bread

 Turkey carving station

 All types of petite desserts

 My favorite are the Pumpkin Cheesecake and the Pecan Pie.

This was the first time I've been served with this much cream for my coffee.

After gorging ourselves at the buffet at lunch, we had dinner at my aunt's place who served Turkey and two Lechon Bellies. We had a feast!

With Thanksgiving over, the Christmas season officially begins. 2017 Christmas Card Project is well underway. The first batch of Christmas cards have been mailed and are on their way to the Philippines. Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao look for them! The cards en route to the Philippines are mailed first because in my experience they take the longest to be delivered or they never make it to their destinations. I am hoping all recipients will receive their cards this year.

 It's also time to deck the house with Christmas decorations. Here's Daisy and Dizzy doing their own thing while Kepi and I were setting up the tree.

 Dizzy wondering why the door is dress up as a gift.

Our 2017 Christmas Tree

Lately, I have been feeling down and anxious because I have another surgery coming. My mind have been somewhere else and once again, I am having a hard time finding the Christmas Spirit and even the energy to decorate the tree. But on Sunday evening, I finally got the drive to finish it. We decided to go with a red and silver color theme along with the ornaments from our wedding, our first anniversary, our travels, the Santa ornament I bought after my chemo, Jeff's childhood ornaments and others that tell stories of our challenges, gratitude, hope and strength. You see, we want our tree to tell a story and to represent the essence of our lives. It is from these experiences that we find gratitude and meaning even in the darkest moments of our lives. I believe that no matter how hard life is with all its qualms and challenges, it is still a beautiful life.

2015 Recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

This year, I baked cupcakes and cookies and gave them to neighbors, family and friends.

The warm weather causes a Cherry Blossom to bloom in December. This is the first time I've seen something like this after living in the DC area for 14 years.

Kepi and I had a quiet and restful Christmas. We really enjoyed attending the evening service on Christmas Eve. With the unwinterlike 72-degree temperature on Christmas Day, we celebrated with a small dinner prepared by Kepi and spent the rest of the day watching Christmas movies. At this time of year when majority of the people are frantic and stressed about gifts, parties and social obligations, I prefer the quiet comfort of home and the presence as well as thoughts of people who really matter in my life.

Daisy wasn't too happy with the red bow on her head.

As 2015 comes to a close, I realize that this year has been about catching up. This is because I spent most of 2014 at the hospital. I feel that I lost so much time and felt the need to make up for it. However, I'm starting to understand that there's no such thing as lost or wasted time and that the months I've stayed at the hospital were an important and essential part in my journey to recovery and health.

As a year-in-review, 2015 was full of challenges, surprises and blessings. The following are my 2015 highlights:

• Survived Shingles in the beginning of the year: Although I'm still suffering from residual nerve pain, I am hopeful that soon all the pain will cease to exist.
• Earned my master's degree in International Affairs at Georgetown: Attending classes in between a full-time job and numerous blood transfusions made me think I'd never see the day I'd get my diploma. Graduation finally arrived in May and I was ecstatic and proud.
• Traveled to Tennessee, Ireland, France and the UK: In May, Kepi and I visited Ireland where I met my Iggy Sister Odette. Then we took my parents on a road trip to visit Elvis Presley's Graceland (Memphis), stayed at the Peabody Hotel and watched the famous Duck Parade, drove to Nashville where we explored the Country Music Hall of Fame and saw a concert at the Grand Ole Opry. In November, I finally realized my dream of taking my parents to Europe. We started our trip in the UK where we toured London, Stonehenge, Oxford and the Windsor Castle. We took the train to Paris and visited Versailles, enjoyed the city of Paris on foot through the Eiffel Tower, meeting Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum, hoping to see Quasimodo at the Notredame Cathedral and wandered through the shops and Christmas Markets of Champs Elysees.
• Visits from family and high school friends - Andrea (California), Weng (Canada) and Kristian (Philippines)
• Mom's Health: Although Mom suffered a stroke, she's still walking and talking. This last couple of months have been filled with her medical appointments, but I'm grateful that she's still with us and she continues to improve. I pray that next year, she'll regain her normal life and routine.

Overall, 2015 was still a great year!

Season Of Hope

I didn't plan to go off the grid for a long time, but life became too busy and too complicated that I couldn't find the time to formulate letters into words, words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs.

In short, life had other plans for me.

Well, yesterday was the first day of winter, but temperatures have soared into the 50s and 70s. Thanks to El Nino. Even the Cherry Blossoms are confused as they have untimely bloomed. This "warm winter" is giving people a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit as well.

It's been another tough year for Kepi and I, but each year as the Christmas season arrives, I am filled with HOPE that things will get better, and as we get closer to 2016, may it be a kinder year for all of us - for the world.

Wishing everyone a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Waiting For Christmas

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more! (Dr. Seuss)

After I submitted my research papers this fall semester, Kepi and I got busy with decorating our home.  Here's our Christmas Tree.

This year, I decided to bake cookies and muffins as gifts for our neighbors.  These are the chocolate chip cookies.

Blueberry Muffins with crumbs.

After they've cooled down, I packed them in Christmas boxes with candy stripes liners.

Each neighbor got ten chocolate chip cookies and four muffins.

I love the candy stripes liners.

This is the set up of our dining table.

I think we're ready for our Christmas dinner.

Simple centerpiece - a red lamp and jars of red and silver ornaments.

Yes, I've been so excited for this year's Christmas.  I have so many reasons to be excited. First, I am getting nearer my one year re-birthday for my bone-marrow transplant.  Second, I have a beautiful home blessed with a loving husband and two pets who love me unconditionally - Dizzy and Daisy.  Third, I have the unending love and support of my family and friends. Fourth, I will be another year older next month.

Truly, Christmas doesn't come from a store, but lives in the heart of each and everyone.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Waiting For Christmas

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more! (Dr. Seuss)

I thought I'd be spending the holidays getting chemo, but thank God I spent Thanksgiving with family in Atlantic City and will be spending Christmas at home with my husband and parents.  When my doctor said we'd have to move my bone-marrow transplant to January, I was a bit disappointed but then I also felt happy that I could still spend our first Christmas at our new home and still get to decorate and prepare for Christmas.

The Christmas Tree was the first that went up, as we thought we'd decorate early due to my unpredictable schedule. We got a new 6.5 feet tree this time. We still have my smaller tree that we used for the past 5 Christmases, but we might donate that to a thrift shop soon.

Our Christmas Tree this year.

This is our decoration on the fireplace.

Each ornament, except the edible chocolates and round ornaments, represents a country we visited or an event in our lives.

Peace candles and the Nativity Scene.

 Our red "Parol" or Filipino Christmas Lantern.

 The red one is facing the entrance street. I feel so happy whenever we light them up at night.

 This is the gold colored Parol.

 I love this gold color and I'm thinking of getting a silver one too.

 We got this from one of the Christmas Tree shops in the neighborhood. It's made of real pine branches, pine cones and holly. It's quite heavy - about 3 lbs.

 It smells really good and it's a welcoming sight to anyone who comes to the door.

Although I don't feel well these days, Christmas has been a great diversion to my upcoming treatment. It's tough not to get negative thoughts at times, but I'm glad that I have a supportive husband and a family whose love is overwhelming.

With the decorations and the lights, let's not forget that Christmas is all about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.